This case involves the granting of a petition for reinterment. We are asked to consider whether a motion to dismiss based on laches was erroneously denied. We affirm.
I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
Appellant Leroy Albert Pinkham, aka Llewellyn Albert Pingree, (Pinkham) and Respondent Catherine Garcia separated in 1972. Garcia was granted custody of the couple’s son, Charles Albert Pinkham, and Pinkham was granted visitation rights. During a scheduled visitation, without Garcia’s knowledge or consent and in violation of the custody order, Pinkham relocated with Charles from Nevada to Idaho and changed their names. Charles died in a car accident in 1981; Garcia was unable to locate her son before his death. In 1981, Pinkham called Garcia’s mother and told her that Charles had drowned and “that’s all [she] needs to know,” then hung up the phone. Garcia contacted every state to try and find out more information about her son’s death and in 1982, through her efforts, learned Charles died in a car accident and that he was buried in Moscow, Idaho. Both the death certificate and headstone contained incorrect information; they listed Charles’s last name as Pingree instead of Pinkham, and listed Elizabeth Bixby (the decedent’s paternal great-grandmother) as his mother. In 1984, Garcia successfully corrected the death certificate.
In 2005, twenty-three years after learning where her son was buried, Garcia filed a petition for reinterment requesting that Charles’s body be exhumed and reinterred in New Mexico, where Garcia resides. Pink-ham answered and then subsequently filed a Motion to Dismiss based on laches. The district court held a hearing on the motion to dismiss and denied the motion holding that because Pinkham came into court with “unclean hands” he could not assert the equitable defense of laches. After trial, the district court made a final decision in the case and held Garcia had shown reasonable cause for disinterment. Pinkham now appeals to this Court.
II. STANDARD OF REVIEW
When the Court reviews a denial of a motion to dismiss, we apply the same standard of review we apply to summary judgment.
Rohr v. Rohr,
III. ANALYSIS
A. Motion to Dismiss
The only issue raised by Pinkham on appeal is the district court’s denial of his motion to dismiss. Pinkham asserts the district court erroneously applied the doctrine of unclean hands when it denied the motion. Garcia argues the court correctly applied the doctrine of unclean hands and that in the alternative, Pinkham did not sufficiently prove laches in this case.
We review a trial court’s decision on laches and unclean hands for an abuse of discretion.
Sword v. Sweet,
At oral argument Pinkham argued he was precluded from bringing any additional evidence forward because the interlocutory finding of unclean hands acted as an order “in hmine” to preclude production of any further evidence concerning his equitable defense of
The appellant has the burden of proving error, and we will not presume error.
W. Cmty. Ins. Co.,
B. Attorney Fees
Garcia requests an award of attorney fees; however, Garcia fails to accompany her request for attorney fees with a reference to any statutory provision authorizing the award. Though we would have awarded Garcia attorney fees, we require that a party point to a statute or contractual provision authorizing an award of attorney fees on appeal and she failed to meet this requirement.
See State v. Daicel Chem. Indus., Ltd.,
Nonetheless, on our own motion, we may award attorney fees against an attorney who has violated I.A.R. 11.1.
Sprinkler Irrigation Co., Inc. v. John Deere Ins. Co., Inc.,
IV. CONCLUSION
We affirm the district court’s decision. Costs to Respondent.
